PANAJI
The Cyber Crime Police have arrested two more persons in connection with the digital arrest fraud, in which a 68-year-old woman was duped of Rs 1 crore by fraudsters posing as officers from the Delhi Crime Branch.
The latest arrests of Rakesh Patil and Sachin Patil, both residents of Raigad, Maharashtra, have taken the total number of accused in custody to seven.
“They were involved in operating mule bank accounts for money transfers and had links to a hawala network. Accordingly, on February 26, our team proceeded to Mumbai and arrested them,” Superintendent of Police (Cyber Crime) Rahul Gupta, who led the team to Maharashtra, told reporters on Friday.
The last arrest before this was that of Rahul Mishra from Uttar Pradesh on January 29. Prior to him, Yaramala Venkateswarlu and Roshan Shaikh, both from Andhra Pradesh, and Visakh R and Muhammadshan from Kerala were arrested.
As per the FIR, the accused contacted Bernadette Fernandes via WhatsApp between December 26 and 28, 2024, falsely claiming that a police complaint had been filed against her. One of the fraudsters allegedly sent forged documents bearing the name of the Supreme Court of India and coerced her into transferring Rs 1 crore across three different bank accounts.
SP Gupta further revealed that during interrogation, Rakesh and Sachin confessed to being associates of co-accused Rahul Mishra and were involved in providing mule accounts, which were used to quickly move stolen funds.
So far, the Cyber Crime Police have seized a total of eight mobile phones, one laptop, and two hard disks, besides freezing Rs 40 lakh.
The Cyber Crime Police reiterated its advisory to the public to remain cautious of fraudulent calls from persons posing as police or Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials demanding money.
